Abstract
A new approach is proposed to robot path planning that consists of using the viscous fluid equations including external forces. Unlike the majority of potential field techniques, the method is able to cope not only with 2-dimensional binary environments made of obstacles and free space, but also with so-called weighted regions, as well as uneven natural terrain where slope and ground characteristics influence the robot performance. It shows how the viscosity coefficient can be used to control the corridors of navigation, and how the external forces acting on the fluid particles can model the forces due to gravity and to friction between the ground and the vehicle. The planner automatically constructs several routes of equivalent costs, that makes the solutions more robust than those obtained by the search of optimal paths, by allowing reactivity in case of an unexpected local disturbance. Comparisons with the scent diffusion method for a binary universe and with a genetic algorithm for a real natural terrain are presented.